Six flags is now charging you to print tickets at home.

Just checked my receipt for our family's Six Flags passes we purchased back in January and the $5 fee was present along with a $6 city fee (I assume this fee would be charged at the park too?).

Delivery Fee $5.00
Tax $0.00
City Fee $6.12

At the bottom of the receipt it says: "Orders are processed and shipped by
accesso, LLC"

So I assume that this $5 fee is what this company is charging - I am sure SF could opt to cover it but has chosen not to.

That's for a delivery fee, not a charge to print them out at home fee.

That is the print at home fee, I didn't have anything delivered. The receipt says:

"* You have chosen to print your order through Print@Home. This deliverymethod allows you to print your tickets at home and go directly to thepark turnstiles. Go straight to the gate!"

The charge for print-at-home has been there for at least a few years. It's just more expensive now.

I do find it interesting that while Disney and Six Flags helped usher in the concept of pay-one-price for entry, Six Flags is really leading the way in bringing back a philosophy of pay-per-convenience. There's a parking fee (which almost everyone is guilty of), a print-at-home fee, and a Flash Pass fee (if you use it). I have to believe this philosophy is working from a financial standpoint, or else Six Flags wouldn't continue to use it.

I guess people really do cough up more money if you keep the ticket price low but keep hitting them in the wallet once they're on site. It must be less psychologically intimidating to lose small chunks of money at different times than to lose a larger chunk of money at once.

I'm definitely a fan of wrapping up all the costs into one higher fee, but it's nevertheless interesting to see if the Six Flags strategy continues to pay off.

The fees are a ripoff and Ticketmaster is the greatest offender I have found yet. I have never printed park tickets but I pay the $10 fee every year to have my SFMM Xtreme Play Pass shipped by UPS. I am not thrilled about the shipping fee, but since I save so much money by having a pass I just tell myself that I am paying $135 for my pass instead of $125. I use my pass so often and save so much money by having it, that $135 is still a great deal for how much entertainment it gives me over the course of a whole year. I have used my pass 3 times this year so far, and have already got $275 in value out of it.

SFMMAddict said:
I just tell myself that I am paying $135 for my pass instead of $125.

So would it be ok if Six Flags just told you that same little white lie in the first place? There'd be absolutely no outrage at all if the pass prices were $5 (or $10) higher across the board, but there was no additional fee listed. In fact, we'd still be raving about what a good value the passes are.

Hell, maybe there are already other fees tied in that you and I will never know about. :)

The complaint here seems to be the words they put next to the numbers once they itemize the pass cost.

What is the big freaking deal?

The company is on the verge of filing for bankruptcy and they're trying to rake in a little bit of extra cash.

If you as a consumer find the $5 print-at-home fee ridiculous, then stand in line at the ticket booth in person to buy your ticket. What is so difficult about that? This fee is only for print-at-home tickets. If you want the convenience of not waiting in line to buy your tickets, YOU PAY FOR THE CONVENIENCE. Duh. :)

Lord Gonchar said:

The complaint here seems to be the words they put next to the numbers once they itemize the pass cost.

Not for me it isn't. For me the complaint is that they are trying to encourage me to take an action with a $10 discount and then they charge 1/2 that value back for taking the said action.

If you want the convenience of not waiting in line to buy your tickets, YOU PAY FOR THE CONVENIENCE. Duh.
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Which would be fine with me if I wasn't being enticed to take advantage of the convenience with the promise of a discount they don't actually intend to provide to me...at least not in its entirety.

At least they tell you what they are charging you. When I purchased Universal Orlando tickets I noticed $26 added to the bottom of my order for "Taxes and Fees". I knew this was well more than sales tax, but I couldn't find anything on the website telling me what the fees are. I called the 800 number on the site and I was told that there is a $2.25 per ticket fee for all online orders.

I don't mind paying, so that when I get to the park, I don't have to wait. I just think it was wrong to try and hide it from me. (Incidently, I bought them anyway so I would have the tickets when I got there.)

Carrie M. said:
Not for me it isn't. For me the complaint is that they are trying to encourage me to take an action with a $10 discount and then they charge 1/2 that value back for taking the said action.

So would it be better if they encouraged you by telling you it was a $5 discount?

That would be a more honest approach. True it is not a $5 discount per se, but it would not leave me with that bitter taste.

Lord Gonchar said:

So would it be better if they encouraged you by telling you it was a $5 discount?

Absolutely.

This fee is per ORDER not per ticket and has been charged since at least 2006 (although it started at $3 per order). It's funny that it gets mentioned on several news outlets and blogs over three years after the fee introduction and suddenly everyone is all up in arms about it.

IMO, the online ticket can be $20 cheaper than the gate price. If you buy just one, then it is still $15 cheaper than the gate price. Still a deal and you have avoided waiting in line at the ticket window.

The web-ticketing company - Asseso - charges SF a percentage of online sales and keeps that. SF introduced the $5 per order fee to offset the losses to the third party. Additionally, some states/cities charge sales tax and/or head tax and/or city fee. Those are added to the bill to be paid to government agencies just like sales tax at any retail location.

unemployed dude said:
This fee is per ORDER not per ticket...

That's one and the same for a single ticket purchase, no matter whether you put it in all caps or not.

IMO, the online ticket can be $20 cheaper than the gate price. If you buy just one, then it is still $15 cheaper than the gate price. Still a deal and you have avoided waiting in line at the ticket window.

That's cool. But that's not the scenario we are talking about. The closest park to me at least, is offering a $10 discount for which $5 of it goes to printing the ticket at home. That's 1/2 the stated discount.

Perhaps there is a margin for which the fee seems nominal. But for me, 1/2 the value of the discount isn't it.

The web-ticketing company - Asseso - charges SF a percentage of online sales and keeps that. SF introduced the $5 per order fee to offset the losses to the third party. Additionally, some states/cities charge sales tax and/or head tax and/or city fee. Those are added to the bill to be paid to government agencies just like sales tax at any retail location.

Again, that's cool. But as the consumer, I don't really care. All of that is Six Flags' problem for doing business with Asseso.

And if they want to pass the fee along to me for the convenience of using the service, I am absolutely ok with that. But when they advertise a discount that requires me to use the service and then they pass the fees along to me, that's when I cry foul.

a_hoffman50 said:
That would be a more honest approach.

I totally disagree.

I figured you did. I had to bite the bait.

"So would it be ok if Six Flags just told you that same little white lie in the first place?"

Yes, that would be fine with me. $135 for a year of unlimited visits is a great deal.

This is basic consumer psychology, and bad form on behalf of Six Flags. Ticketmaster can get away with it because they have a monopoly on concert venues the corporate-owned government refuses to bust, and SF does not have that luxury in most markets. This sort of thing will obviously not cripple SF alone but that phrase "death by a thousand cuts" certainly comes to mind. They'd be much better off rescinding the fee and passing the buck using less conspicuous means.

The thing I always found funny about Ticket master isn't the fact that they charge for you to print tickets yourself, but that they will mail them USPS First Class for free. That has to cost them more than having the customer print it. I've always bought my tickets with en ought lead time to just have them mailed for free.

^^ Seriously. Did I mention my 2009 Magic Mountain pass that works at all Six Flags parks was only $45?